Mapping Your Field Site: Neighborhood Data for Community-Based Research

Qualitative and community-based research happens somewhere. Reviewers, funders, and community partners increasingly expect you to show them that somewhere — on a map, with evidence, and without overstating what the numbers say.

This session introduces PolicyMap, the Libraries' neighborhood data and mapping platform, as a tool for situating fieldwork. You will draw a study area at the neighborhood scale, map conditions such as income, housing cost and tenure, health access, and broadband availability, layer those maps to see where conditions overlap, and export a documented site profile built around your map, with citations. We will also spend real time on what these estimates can and cannot support — a small-area number with a margin of error wider than the number itself is a common trap.

Useful for ethnographers, community-engaged and service-learning instructors, public health and social work researchers, and anyone writing a needs assessment. You will leave with a map of your own site. No GIS software and no prior mapping experience required.

This workshop will be offered as an online session via Zoom. You must register for this workshop to receive the Zoom link via a confirmation email. On the day of the workshop, use the link to join the session.  

Contact Felipe Valdez at tuq76851@temple.edu with any questions.